Shoe-pressing device



c. M. RICHARDSON SHOE PRESSING DEVICE Original Filed Dec. 8. 1927 Ll d f 1 f7 l N14 5 I5 Ewm, www? Patented Oct. 8, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES M. RICHARDSON, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE B. F. GOODRICH COM- PANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATON OF NEW YORK SHOE-PRESSING DEVICE Application filed December 8, 1927, Serial No. 238,518.

This invention relates to devices for press ing articles such as rubber overshoes mounted upon lasts, for the purpose of consolidating the rubber and fabric parts of the overshoe and expelling air from between the overshoe and the last, which usually is of the perforate, vented type, in preparation for vulcanizing the overshoe in open heat.

It is especially desirable that the sole and foxing and adjacent parts of the overshoe be subjected to a high fluid-pressure to compact them against the last and in the case especially of high-topped overshoes the leakage of pressure-'fluid through the fabric portion of the overshoe into the hollow last sometimes has resulted in diiculty of applying adequate fluid-pressure to the sole portion and adjacent portions of the shoe.

The chief objects of my invention are to provide an improved pressing device adapted to apply a high fluid-pressure to the sole and adjacent portions of the overshoe without much loss of pressure-fluid by leakage through the overshoe into the last; to provide conveniently for thereafter subjecting the rest of the overshoe to an adequate external fluid-pressure to compact it against the last; to provide conveniently and economically for making the two applications of pressurefluid in succession; to provide for facility of mount ing and removal of the overshoe with relation to the device; and to provide for ready adjustment of the device to operate upon overshoes of different sizes.

The single ligure of the accompanying drawing is a side elevation of a device embodying my invention in its preferred form, parts of the device being sectioned and broken away.

Referring to the drawing, the device comprises a pressure pot 10 internally formed to accommodate an overshoe 11 mounted upon the usual perforate, hollow, vented last 12. The pot is provided with the usual hinged lid 13 mounted for rotary locking and unlocking movement upon the end of a lever 14 hinged at 15 to a frame 16 and provided at the other position of the figure and lowering it into Renewed May 3, 1929.

closed position with relation to the pot 10. The lid 13 is held to the lower face of the lever 14 by a pivot bolt 18 rotatably extending through a brace member 19 and through the lever and threaded into the central part of the lid, the brace member 19 being secured to the lid and extending over the end of the lever 14.

The lid 13 is provided with the usual peripheral lugs such as the lug 2O adapted to interlock with overhanging lugs 21 formed upon the rim of the pot, and with a handle 22 for rotating the lid to engage and disengage the lugs. A lip gasket 23 is provided for sealing the rim of the pot to the lid. A hand-operable escape-valve 24 is provided for venting the pot after each pressing operation 'to permit the pot to be opened. A stop bolt 25 is slidably mounted in an arcuate slot formed in the lever 14 and is threaded into the lid, to limit the rotative movement of the lid, the range of movement permitted by the stop bolt 25 being such that in one stop position the lugs 2O will pass between the lugs 21 in the hinged movement of the lid and in the other stop position of the lid the lugs 2O will be engaged under the respective lugs 21. In its lower region the pot has fitted therein a piston-like member 26 provided with a lip gasket 27 adapted to seal it to the inner face of the pot, and the piston-member 26 is provided with a hollow stem 23 projecting through the bottom of the pot and communieating with the atmosphere, the piston member 26 being adapted to be held at different elevations in the pot to accommodate lasts of different lengths, by a pair of links such as the link 29 connecting the lower end' of the stem 28 with the respective side members of a two-plate lever 30, which is fulcrumed to the pot 31, and is adapted to be held in dilerent positions by a pin 32 adapted to be mounted in holes formed in the lever and in one or another of a series of holes 33, 33 formed in an arcuate plate 34 having liXed relation to the not. l The piston-like member 26 is centrally formed with an upwardly iiared conical cavity provided with a rubber lining 35 adapted to receive and to seal against the shank edge of successive lasts such as the last 12, and the CII lining is held in the cavity by a ring 36 surrounding the last-receiving space and secured to the piston-like member 26.

At a suitable position vertically of the pot, the pot has fitted therein and secured by screw bolts 37, 37 a metal ring 38 provided at one side of its upper face with an undercut flange 39 adapted to interlit with a beveled base flange formed upon a metal gasket-supporting ring 40 upon which is fitted the base of an annular lip gasket 41 adapted imperfectly to seal against the overshoe 11 throughout an annular zone extending about the overshoe adjacent the foxingarea of the latter. F or detachably holding the gasket-supporting ring 40 upon the ring 38 in interlocked relation to the latters flange 39, a set screw 42 extends through the wall of the pot and is adapted to engage the beveled base iiange of the ring 40 at a position opposite the flange 39. The gasket 41 is held in sealed relation against the ring 40 by a binding member 43, which may be either a metal-clamping band or a winding of adhesive tape. rlhe gasket and its supporting ring are adapted to be readily substituted by assemblies of different sizes for operation upon shoes of different sizes.

The kgasket 41 is adapted in conjunction with an overshoe mounted therein to provide a partition such as to divide the pot into an upper chamber and a lower chamber, and leading into the upper chamber is an air supply pipe 44 which preferably is provided with a branch pipe 45 leading to a pressure gauge (not shown). Preferably also an air pipe 46 communicates with the lower chamber and leads to another pressure gauge (not shown).

In the operation of the device, the lever 30 being set in the proper position to adapt the machine for the particular size of overshoe and last to be operated upon and the lid of the pot being in the open, broken-line position, the lasted overshoe is mounted in the pot, the vented last sealing at the annular margin of its shank against the rubber lining member 35 while the portion of the overshoe adjacent its sole substantially fits within the annular sealing margin of the lip gasket 41. The lid of the pot'is then closed and locked, after which compressed air is conducted into the upper chamber of the pot through the pipe 44 until a suitable pressure is built up therein for pressing the sole region of the overshoe, and under the force of the fluid-pressure upon the exterior of that part of the overshoe the air entrapped between it and the last is ex pelled through the vented last and through the hollow stem 28.

While the pressure is being built up in the upper chamber and thereafter such leakage occurs past the gasket 41 and possibly to a ysubstantial extent through the fabric of the overshoe against which the gasket bears that a suitable pressure is gradually built up in the lower chamber for pressing the leg and other portions of the overshoe which lie wi thin the lower chamber, the entire overshoe thus being adequately pressed about the time that the pressure in the two chambers equalizes. The pipe 44 may still be held open, however, after the pressures have equalized, for a sufficient time to insure a thorough compacting of the entire overshoe, if that is found to be necessary or desirable in the case of the particular type of overshoe being operated upon.

When the pressing operation has thus been completed, and the pipe 44 has been closed, the escape-valve 24 is manually opened to relieve the pressure within the pot, after which the lid 13 is unlocked and swung back to the broken-line position, the pressed shoe is removed from the pot, and the operation as described is repeated.

The several advantages set out in the above statements of objects are thus obtained.

Modications are possible within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A shoe-pressing device comprising a pot, a lip gasket mounted therein and adapted with a lasted shoe embraced thereby to divide the pot into two chambers, and means for conducting pressure uid into the pot and thereby producing a high pressure in one of the chambers and a lower but super-atmospheric pressure in the other chamber.

2. A device as delined in claim 1 including means for effecting a seal between the shank of the last and the wall of the pot.

3. A shoe-pressing device comprisinglip gasket adapted to embrace a lasted shoe substantially throughout an annular zone adj acent the sole thereof, means adapted in conjunction with said lip gasket to define a chamber surrounding the sole portion of the shoe, means adapted in conjunction with said lip gasket to define a chamber surrounding the rest of the shoe and in restricted communication with the first mentioned chamber, and means for conducting pressure iiuid into the first mentioned chamber, the restricted communication between the two chambers being such as to cause fluid from said conducting means to build up a pressure in the second chamber at a comparatively slow rate.

4. A device as defined in claim 3 in which the lip gasket is so formed and mounted as to be adapted freely to receive the shank of the shoe therethrough.

5. A shoe-pressingdevice comprising a pot, sealing means therein for effecting a seal between the shank of aA last and the wall of the pot and an annular shoe-engaging member adapted to embrace adjacent its sole a shoe on said last and freely to permit the passage or the last therethrough into engagement with the said sealing means, the said embracing means being adapted in conjunction with the Surface of the lasted shoe to divide the interior of the pot into two chambers.

6. A device as defined in claim 5 in which the means for ei'eoting a seal between the shank of the last and the wall of the pot comprises a member mounted for inward and outward adjustment in an aperture in the wall of the pot, means for holding said member in different positions of adjustment n said aperture, and sealing means mounted on said member.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of December, 1927.

CHARLES M. RICHARDSON. 

